Dodgers' pitcher Clayton Kershaw takes parting shot at Astros on his way out the door

Fresh off winning the World Series with the Los Angeles Dodgers and calling it a career after 18 years, Clayton Kershaw still has the Houston Astros on his mind. Knowing nothing but life as a Dodger, Kershaw still isn't over the Astros' sign-stealing scandal during the 2017 World Series. So much so that after a storybook ending to his playing days, Kershaw had to give a parting shot to the Astros.

While Kershaw admitted that the Dodgers' most recent World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays was the best one he's been a part of, he also called back to the Dodgers' World Series against the Astros in 2017.

"I've been in one other seven-game World Series, and we lost that one," Kershaw said. "Well, there's an asterisk on that one."

Even on the way out, Clayton Kershaw still has the Houston Astros living rent-free in his head.

Kershaw's comments are just the latest reminder that the Astros teams of yesteryear will always be looked upon as the villains of Major League Baseball. It's an ongoing, toxic trend that has even followed players like George Springer, who have since moved on from Houston.

Astros fans shouldn't feel too upset about the 2017 conversations, though, because it's not like Houston's World Series title was taken away. Perhaps that is the reason why Kershaw remains salty, finishing his career as a three-time World Series champion instead of having four titles to his name.

At the end of the day, Astros fans -- and fans across all of MLB -- should be self-aware enough to realize that a giant of the sport is retiring. Kershaw, despite oftentimes being pinned as public enemy No. 1 for Astros fans, deserves undeniable respect across all of baseball for what he's done during his career.

Kersh didn't outright say that the Astros didn't deserve the 2017 World Series, by the way; he just mentioned an asterisk. If that's going to rile up fans to a considerable degree, so be it, but Kershaw didn't suggest that Houston's 2017 team wasn't of a championship caliber.